Wednesday, February 18, 1998Last modified at 1:24 a.m. on Wednesday, February 18, 1998

Tripp searched for immunity from Starr; Fox questioned

WASHINGTON (AP) - A month before she gave prosecutors tape recordings suggesting a presidential affair and cover-up, Linda Tripp became concerned her tapes might be illegal and began looking for a new lawyer to seek immunity from prosecution, her former book agent saids.

Lucianne Goldberg, the New York book agent who advised Tripp last year, said it was Tripp's concern about being prosecuted for secretly taping conversations with Monica Lewinsky that led Tripp to conservative lawyers, includingnul Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

Tripp's attorneys at the time had convinced her that "she had done something illegal and awful and she panicked and she wanted immunity, and she had to have a lawyer now who knew how to get her immunity on the tapes," Goldberg saidnrsoit.

James Moody, Tripp's current lawyer, said his client went to Starr in January because she was being asked by Ms. Lewinsky to lie in the Paula Jones harassment lawsuit.

Meanwhile, prosecutors questioned Former Secret Service officer Lewis Fox before the grand jury Tuesday. Fox says he once saw Ms. Lewinsky visit Clinton in the Oval Office but wasn't sure if they were alone. Fox's lawyer, Michael Leibig, said the Secret Service officer knew Ms. Lewinsky because he told her how to get her picture taken with the president when she first came to the White House. She sent Fox a box of chocolates to thank him, Leibig saidCNBC.

And presidential spokesman Mike McCurry voiced regret for saying he expects a "very complicated" story to emerge about the president and Ms. Lewinsky.

"The thing I was proving was that only fools answer hypothetical questions," McCurry told reporters. "I said what I said, I just shouldn't have said it."